This application generally relates to telecommunications and to data processing. This application, more particularly, relates to location monitoring.
Location-based services are known in the art. A wireless device's location is determined (usually via triangulation or a global positioning system) and then information is provided based on that location. Advertising, for example, can be based on location. Once the location of a wireless device is known, local restaurants and merchants may wish to provide targeted advertising to the wireless device. Coupons may even be sent to the wireless device to entice the wireless customer to purchase.
Despite these known location-based services, a fundamental concept has eluded the prior art. As the customer travels further from a merchant, conventional advertising and marketing strategies are less successful. A wireless customer that is located farther away from a merchant is less likely to travel and to purchase from the merchant. That is, a wireless customer that is in the vicinity of a merchant's store is more likely to respond to the location-based advertisement. If the wireless customer is presently located many miles from the merchant, the location-based advertisement may not entice the wireless customer to drive to the merchant. What is needed, then, is a strategy for providing location-based services that provides a greater enticement depending on the distance a wireless customer must travel.